Centrifugal clothes drier



July 15, 1930. I GELDHOF v 1,770,666

- cEiNTRIFUc-AL CLOTHES DRIER Filed March 14, 1928 F1] if WI TNES'S mw T- W Tran/V575 cation is a Patented July 15, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE PETER E. GELDHOF, OF SYRACUSE, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR T0 SYRACUSE WASHING MA- CHINE CORPORATION, OF SYRACUSE, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE CENTRIFUGAL CLOTHES DRIER Original application filed February 11, 1928', Serial No. 253,698. Divided and this application filed March 14, 1928. Serial No. 261,575.

This invention relates to a centrifugal clothes drier of the class set forth in my pending application Serial No. 253,693, filed February 11, 1928, of which the present applidivision, and refers more particularly to the construction of the rotary container in which the previously washed and more or less moisture-saturated clothes are placed for centrifugally expelling the moisture therefrom.

In apparatus of this character it istdesirable to make the interior capacity of the container sufficiently large to receive the batch of clothes normally operated upon by the washing mechanism so that one batch of clothes may be dried in the container while another batch is being washed and in view of the fact that it is practically impossible to distribute theweight of the clothes in the container uniformly about the axis thereof it becomes highly important to construct the container so that the mass of clothes will be.

brought as closely as possible to theaxis of the rotation and thereby to reduce to a minimum the vibration of the machine in case the load in the container is more or less out of balance or unevenly distributed about the axis thereof.

One of the objects, therefore, is to accomplish this desirable result b elongating the container vertically and re ucing its diameter so that its height will be considerably greater than its diameter for the purpose of maintaining the desired capacity and at the .same time bringing the center of the mass of clothes as closely as possible to the axis of rotation thus permitting the container to be rotated at a relatively high rate of speed with a minimum vibration of the machine.

Furthermore, in centrifugal driers of this character it is well-known that, when the container with the clothes and water therein is rotated at the high rate of speedrequired for expelling the water from the clothes, the clothes and water are displaced from the center outwardly against the peripheral walls thereof and that if the peripheral walls and bottom of the container are cylindrical or flared upwardly and imperforate the washing fluid expelled from the clothes will rise along the peripheral walls thereof from the bottom upwardly with gradually diminishing radial depth and will overflow over the upper marginal edge of the container.

Under these conditions the passage of the water by centrifugal force from the center through the clothes to the peripheral walls of the container has more or less additional washing effect upon the clothes to expel any loose residue forei matter which may lodge therein so thatw en foreign matter is expelled from the clothes it will impinge against and be carried upwardly along the peripheral walls, leaving more or less sediment in the adjacent portions of the clothes which, of course, is undesirable.

Another object of'the invention, therefore, is to avoid this undesirable result by tapering the imperforate peripheral walls of the rotary container from the bottom upwardly or rather flaring them from the top downwardly at an angle suflicient to counteract the tendency of upfiow of the water therealong by centrifugal force and to further counteract this tendency by providing downwardly discharging openings at or near the junction of the peripheral walls with the bottom of the container thereby aiding rather than opposing the gravitation of the water and sediment away from the adjacent portions of the clothes and utilizing this downflow of the water along the peripheral walls for washing the sediment .away from the clothes. 1

Other objects and'uses relating to specific parts of the centrifugal drier will be brought out in the following description.

In the drawings a Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view of a centrifugal clothes drier embodying the various features of my invention.

Figure 2 is a horizontal sectional view 4 and is an out-turne or otherwise secured thereto for partially supporting the upper end of the vat.

' upright cylindrical vat 5-- is mounted at its lower end upon the deck -1-'- to extend upwardly therefrom a relatively short distance above the upper edge of the band (provided at its upper end with flange -6-.- overhanging the band and preferably engaged therewith.

An upper deck 7 is mounted upon the upper marginal edge of the vat -'-5 and is provided with a central opening 8- normally closed by a lid or cover --9, the opening -8 being of suflicient diameter to permit the passage of the rotary container 'therethrough and also serving to permit the -'The insertion and removal of the clothes into and out of the container when the lid -9- is removed or-opened. The bottom of the vat 5- is secured to the up r face of the deck -1 by means of a c amping collar 11- and clamping bolts 12'- which extend through registerinfi openings in the lowerflanged end of the co er and underlying portion of the deck as shown in Figure 1.

The bottom of the vat is also provided with a central opening registering with corresponding openings III the underlying portion of the deck -1- and collar -11-- for receiving a tubular post 13 having its lower end pro'ecting through the registering "openings mt e deck -1-:-, bottom of the vat 5- and collar 11-- and its upper end extended some distance above the co lar for receiving and supportin an upright rotary shaft section .14--' an a rotary container .'...15.

deck 1- is provided with a downwardly pro'ecting annular flange" -16- forming a c and closed by a bushing -,-18-- in which latter is iournaled a driving shaft --19- coaxial with the shaft 14 and adapted to be connected to any available source of .inits 'power, not shown, for driving the same.

The adjacent. ends of' these shaft sections "",14' and 19- extend into the chamber 17- and-are connected by a coupling member 20- within the chamber 17-. for transmitting shaft -19 to the shaft 14 That is, the coupling member --20-- ,is

i u keyed or otherwise secured to the upper end of the shaft section ,19; and is provided upper end with diametrically opposite h; a: -21- open at the top for receiving a transverse key or pin 22-+- on the adjacent end of the upper shaft section-44- mber 17-- having its lowerrotary motion from the driving thus permitting the shaft section 14- to be removed or disconnected from the shaft section -19- b upward .displacement.

The lower an upper ends of the tubular post' 13- are provided with bushings --23- of bronze or equivalent material to form bearings for the shaft section 14, as shown in igure 1. i

The container 15- is provided with a central hub 24 coaxial with and surrounding the periphery of the tubular post 13-- 1n slightly spaced relation thereto and having its lower-end encircling the upper end of the collar 11 and its upper end extended some distance above the post and provided with an angular opening 25- for receiving a corresponding angular upper end -26-.of.the shaft section 14- for transmitting rotary motion from said shaft section to the container, the upper end of said openin 25- being closed by a suitable cap to prevent leakage of water from the interior of the container into the interior of the hub.

Y The angular connections between the upper ends of the shaft section 14- and hub 24 of the container constitute a spline connection between those parts to permit upward displacement of the container from the shaft if desired or rather to permit the endwise removal and replacement of the shaft section from and into the socket or opening -25 in case the shaft section should be removed with the container from the tubular post 13----.

The hub 24- preferably forms an in tegral part of the bottom as '28 of the container 15- and has its lower end enlargedinternally to receive one of the sections as 29- of a ball-retainer, the other section as 29'- of the same ball-retainer being mounted upon the periphery of the tubular post 13some distance from its lower and upper ends.

These ball-retainer rings 29- and 29'- serve to receive and retain anti-friction balls -30- constituting a bearing for the hub of the rotary container upon the tubular postbetween the lower and upper bearin s 23-.. I

he rotary container 15- is provided with upwardly tapered peripheral walls -10 extending upwardly from the bottom therewith and the major portion of the height thereof, the lower portion of said peripheral wall being corrugated circumferentially and havin its lower end secured by screws 31 or equivalent fastening meansto the periphery of the bottom' -28 and its upper end circular and provided with an in-turned mar- 'nal flange 32-, for a purpose hereinafter escribed. I

The lower corrugated end of the peripheral wall 10+ is engaged withthe periphery of the flange 33- and forms therewith a series of discharge openings -34- at the ribs of the corrugations, as shown more clearly in Figure 2, and at the left hand of Figure 1, the inwardly depressed portions of the corrugations being in direct engagement with the periphery of the flange -33-.

The radial depth of these corrugations gradually diminishes from the bottom up wardly and merges with the circular upper portion of the peripheral wall of the container, as shown more clearly in Figure 1, thereby serving the double purpose of reinforcing said walls and also forming the discharge openings 34-.

The bottom -28 ofthe container is also provided with apertures 35 just inside of the flange 53-, the inner face of which latter is tapered or flared downwardly so that any excess water which may be expelled from the clothes or drained therefrom may pass through said perforations into the lower end of the vat -5.

In like manner, the discharge openings 34.-, together with the downwardly flaring sides of the container serve to direct the water expelled from the clothes downwardly into the lower end of the vat.

The bottom of the vat -5 is provided with an outlet 36' adapted to be connected to a suitable pump, as shown in my pending application previously referred to, for withdrawing the water expelled from the clothes and discharged into the vat as fast as it accumulates.

This centrifugal drier is adapted to be used in connection with a clothes washing machine adapted to thoroughly wash a batch of clothes of predetermined maximum size and in order that one complete batch of washed clothes may be dried simultaneously with the washing of another batch the interior capacity of the container 15 is made suflicient to receive the entire batch and this capacity is established by elongating the vertical height of the container and reducing its diameter so that the vertical height will be considerably eater than the diameter for the purpose 0 bringing the mass of clothes closer to the axis of rotation of the container and thereby to reduce to a minimum the vibration incidental to the uneven distribution of the load around said axis when the container is rotated at a sufficient speed to expel the water from the clothes by centrifugal force as distinguished from centrifugal clothes driers in which the diameter of the container exceeds the vertical height.

In other words, to make the vertical height of the container considerably greater than its diameter has proven to be a distinct advance in this art because it is practically impossible to establish and maintain a uniform distribution of the weight of clothes within the container around the axis thereof and, therefore, the nearer the eccentricity of load is brought to the axis of rotation the less will be the amount of vibration or, reversely, the farther the eccentricity of load is from the axis the greater the amount of vibration by reason of the increased leverage or throw of that eccentric part of the load.

In order to obtain this maximum capacity of the container the bottom thereof and bearings, therefore, must necessarily be brought close to the lower end while the upper portion of the container must be more or less free and open for the insertion and removal of the clot-hes so that by tapering the container upwardly to gradually decrease its diameter from bottom to top, the clothes which may be in the top of the container or above the medial horizontal plane thereof will be brought still closer to the axis of rotation to further reduce the vibration in case of eccentricity of load.

The upwardly tapered peripheral walls of the container also function to deflect downwardly the Water expelled from the clothes by. centrifugal force and causes a steady down-flow of the water along said walls and through the outlets -34 into the bottom of the vat as long as the required speed of rotation of the container is maintained or until the moisture is practically expelled from the clothes.

This continuous flow of water along the downwardly flaring sides of the container also serves to wash down any sediment which may be thrown against the peripheral walls by centrifugal force thereby preventing the adhesion of such sediment to the adjacent portions of the clothes as would be the case if the peripheral walls were cylindrical or flared upwardly. V

The in-turned flange -32 on the upper end of the container serves as a convenient handle by which the container may be removed and replaced from and into the vat 5- through the upper open end thereof or rather through the opening -8 when the lid 9- is opened.

The inner ball-retainer ring 29 of the bearing for the hub of the container normally rests upon the upper end of the collar -11- to hold the bottom of the container in spaced relation to the bottom of the vat, said ballretaining ring being closely fitted upon the periphery of the post 13- but is free to move lengthwise of and upon said post as the container is inserted endwise into and withdrawn from the vat, it being understood that the spline connection between the upper end of the shaft section 14 and hub 24 permits this endwise displacement .7

coupling member 20, as previously described. e

, I claim:

1. In a centrifugal clothes drier, a container rotatable about its axis and comprising a bottom section, and an upwardly tapered imperforate shellsection corrugated circumferentially with the inner corrugations secured to the periphery of the bottom section and forming with the bottom section intervening drainage 0 enings.

2. In a centrifu a1 0 othes drier, a vat, an imperforate container rotatably mounted in the vat, said container having a wall flarin outwardly from the top-to the bottom an being formed with corrugations extending from the top to the bottom, and a bottom section secured to .the inner corru ations in the lower end of the container an having portions of its periphery in spaced relatlon to the wall of the container to form" drainage openings.

3. In a centrifugal clothes drier, a vat an imperforate contalner rotatably mounted in the vat, said container having a wall flaring outwardly from the top'to the bottom and being formed wtih corrugations extending from the top to the bottom, and a bottom section secured to the inner corrugations in the lower end of the container and having portions of its peripheryin spaced relation to the wall of the container to form drainage openings, said bottom being provided with a plurality of apertures.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 7th day of March, 1928.

PETER E. GELDHOF. 

